Fiscal cliff was a self-inflicted calamity

Dawn Kucera

Published: Monday, January 21, 2013 at 6:58 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, January 21, 2013 at 6:58 a.m.

The word “cliff” has been all over the news the past few weeks. There are all kinds of cliffs. We have “people” cliffs, like Heathcliff from “Wuthering Heights” and Cliff Clavin, the mailman who homesteaded on a stool in the “Cheers” pub.

Then there are “thing” cliffs — defined in Webster's Dictionary as “a very steep, vertical, or overhanging face of rock, earth or ice; Precipice.” Our pop culture contains many images of this kind of cliff, from the car sailing off the cliff in the movie “Thelma and Louise” to Butch Cassidy and Sundance jumping off a cliff into that river.

But my favorite cliff image involves Wile E. Coyote. Never thinking past the next minute, he runs right past the edge of the cliff overlooking the canyon. The action freezes as his eyes bug out and he looks horrified, realizing he's going down. The action starts up again, and there he goes — splat. We are left looking at the outline of his body on the canyon floor with a little cloud rising up.

The screen goes dark for a second, and we next see Wile E. bearing the bruises of his fall, with little hash marks or a bandage on his head, or maybe limping along on crutches. A few scenes later, he is back to his normal activities.

Recently, we had our brush with the “fiscal cliff,” which seemed to tower over our economic canyon. I've been thinking that good ole Wile E. is a great metaphor for what we've seen in Washington over the past couple of months. Let me be very clear: The fiscal cliff was a crisis that didn't have to happen. Like the situations Mr. Coyote routinely finds himself in, it was entirely selfinfl icted. A dysfunctional Congress created this artificial situation of the fiscal cliff as the solution to yet another self-created crisis over raising the debt ceiling in the summer of 2011.

On New Year's Eve, Congress went up to the edge of the fiscal cliff, curled its collective toes over the rim and leaned out as far as it could go. We were there, and as we looked at the canyon floor, we could have been an outline down there. We as a country are like Wile E. Coyote — a bit banged up and bruised, even though we didn't actually go splat. And like him, sooner than might be expected, Congress is back in its regular routine.

That routine seems to be: Create a deadline, dither around for however long it takes to become a crisis, and then with much political posturing come up with some short-term or tweak-around–the-edges solution that Congress passes with much agonizing and angst, while creating even more deadlines for future crises.

So the self-inflicted debt-limit crisis of 2011 begat the fiscal cliff crisis of New Year's Eve 2012, which begat the sequestration deadline at the end of February, which will most likely become a crisis (coinciding, incidentally, with the next debt ceiling crisis). Do you see the pattern here?

But here is my fear: Like Wile E. Coyote, we just don't seem to learn. We have very short political memories. “Back to normal” for Wile E. is to continue plotting against the Roadrunner (Beep! Beep!), and we all know how well that's going to work out for him. “Back to normal” for Congress seems to be back to one side plotting against the other and issuing threats, kicking cans down the road, and continued avoidance of the big issues that should dominate our political discussion — immigration reform, debt reduction, or fixing the tax code.

“Back to normal” is more political finger-pointing while pushing the big issues out and not acting on them until they reach (usually selfinfl icted) crisis level — and often with damaging implications for the country.

With Wile E. Coyote, the problem is his limited number of functioning brain cells. With some of our congressional members, the problem is cowardice. That cowardice is based on political fear — fear of a primary challenge in the next election, fear of losing committee positions if they buck the party line, fear of the wrath of the radio talk show host who seems to run the party, or fear of the dire threats from “The Pledge” enforcer. I think members of the political party meeting this description will recognize themselves.

Pundits say we are at a critical time in our history — but then, doesn't it seem like that's where we always are? It is going to take fearless leadership and stern resolve from our government officials — at all levels, on both sides of the aisle — to get to where they work together to deal with the important issues and actually govern and legislate.

Here is where we, the electorate, can and must take a stand, regardless of our political persuasion. We need to write or call our representatives, express our views (whatever they are), and then demand that they work together for the betterment of the country rather than for their own political careers and ideologies.

We elected these folks (and pay them $174,000 a year) to work for us, not to work for their next re-election. It's time to remind them of that.

Dawn Kucera is a Hendersonville resident. She can be reached at dawnkucera@gmail.com.

<p>The word “cliff” has been all over the news the past few weeks. There are all kinds of cliffs. We have “people” cliffs, like Heathcliff from “Wuthering Heights” and Cliff Clavin, the mailman who homesteaded on a stool in the “Cheers” pub.</p><p>Then there are “thing” cliffs — defined in Webster's Dictionary as “a very steep, vertical, or overhanging face of rock, earth or ice; Precipice.” Our pop culture contains many images of this kind of cliff, from the car sailing off the cliff in the movie “Thelma and Louise” to Butch Cassidy and Sundance jumping off a cliff into that river.</p><p>But my favorite cliff image involves Wile E. Coyote. Never thinking past the next minute, he runs right past the edge of the cliff overlooking the canyon. The action freezes as his eyes bug out and he looks horrified, realizing he's going down. The action starts up again, and there he goes — splat. We are left looking at the outline of his body on the canyon floor with a little cloud rising up.</p><p>The screen goes dark for a second, and we next see Wile E. bearing the bruises of his fall, with little hash marks or a bandage on his head, or maybe limping along on crutches. A few scenes later, he is back to his normal activities.</p><p>Recently, we had our brush with the “fiscal cliff,” which seemed to tower over our economic canyon. I've been thinking that good ole Wile E. is a great metaphor for what we've seen in Washington over the past couple of months. Let me be very clear: The fiscal cliff was a crisis that didn't have to happen. Like the situations Mr. Coyote routinely finds himself in, it was entirely selfinfl icted. A dysfunctional Congress created this artificial situation of the fiscal cliff as the solution to yet another self-created crisis over raising the debt ceiling in the summer of 2011.</p><p>On New Year's Eve, Congress went up to the edge of the fiscal cliff, curled its collective toes over the rim and leaned out as far as it could go. We were there, and as we looked at the canyon floor, we could have been an outline down there. We as a country are like Wile E. Coyote — a bit banged up and bruised, even though we didn't actually go splat. And like him, sooner than might be expected, Congress is back in its regular routine.</p><p>That routine seems to be: Create a deadline, dither around for however long it takes to become a crisis, and then with much political posturing come up with some short-term or tweak-around–the-edges solution that Congress passes with much agonizing and angst, while creating even more deadlines for future crises.</p><p>So the self-inflicted debt-limit crisis of 2011 begat the fiscal cliff crisis of New Year's Eve 2012, which begat the sequestration deadline at the end of February, which will most likely become a crisis (coinciding, incidentally, with the next debt ceiling crisis). Do you see the pattern here?</p><p>But here is my fear: Like Wile E. Coyote, we just don't seem to learn. We have very short political memories. “Back to normal” for Wile E. is to continue plotting against the Roadrunner (Beep! Beep!), and we all know how well that's going to work out for him. “Back to normal” for Congress seems to be back to one side plotting against the other and issuing threats, kicking cans down the road, and continued avoidance of the big issues that should dominate our political discussion — immigration reform, debt reduction, or fixing the tax code.</p><p>“Back to normal” is more political finger-pointing while pushing the big issues out and not acting on them until they reach (usually selfinfl icted) crisis level — and often with damaging implications for the country.</p><p>With Wile E. Coyote, the problem is his limited number of functioning brain cells. With some of our congressional members, the problem is cowardice. That cowardice is based on political fear — fear of a primary challenge in the next election, fear of losing committee positions if they buck the party line, fear of the wrath of the radio talk show host who seems to run the party, or fear of the dire threats from “The Pledge” enforcer. I think members of the political party meeting this description will recognize themselves.</p><p>Pundits say we are at a critical time in our history — but then, doesn't it seem like that's where we always are? It is going to take fearless leadership and stern resolve from our government officials — at all levels, on both sides of the aisle — to get to where they work together to deal with the important issues and actually govern and legislate.</p><p>Here is where we, the electorate, can and must take a stand, regardless of our political persuasion. We need to write or call our representatives, express our views (whatever they are), and then demand that they work together for the betterment of the country rather than for their own political careers and ideologies.</p><p>We elected these folks (and pay them $174,000 a year) to work for us, not to work for their next re-election. It's time to remind them of that. </p><p>Dawn Kucera is a Hendersonville resident. She can be reached at dawnkucera@gmail.com.</p>